Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are some examples of what other groups are doing. For example, Fort Chipewyan in Alberta has a First Nations Telehealth Research Project currently underway that provides a televisitation service, so patients from the community hospitalized in Fort McMurray can visit families and friends in Fort Chipewyan. This is the kind of example I am looking for, Mr. Speaker. What are we doing? What kind of services are actually being provided through telehealth? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, patients in the communities that have telehealth are connected into Yellowknife or to other southern jurisdictions, depending on what the issue is and the kind of care or advice they need. I am very interested in my colleague's comment about the use for patients to in fact visit with family, a very common sense kind of situation. It has never really come up but it is definitely one that makes considerable sense to me. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister inform us what programs or services they are looking to deliver through the telehealth service facilities that are being established? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The services are diagnostic and are consultative. There is consultation that can take place on mental health issues. There is diagnostic appointments and work that can be done with doctors, with dermatologists, with leg breaks and those kinds of medical situations. There is a whole host of particular services that can be provided, as well as the very excellent suggestion that he raised from Fort Chipewyan and Fort McMurray. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today goes to the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services as well. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, I want to ask him about the information system that is available to track medical travel. Mr. Speaker, I know that in his previous life, when he was on this side of the floor, he talked often about the importance of blue chip information in order to make good decisions.

I am being told by the specialists out there that the health care system is working in an information vacuum as to who is travelling where and for what. Is the Minister aware of that and what is he doing about it? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my concern, interest and recognition of the absolute necessity for blue chip information has not changed since moving into this chair. In fact, it has probably been heightened.

I recognize the current systems we have are not adequate. Very clearly, the perception I had when I sat with my colleagues on the other side has been confirmed. Health and Social Services itself recognizes that our information systems are significantly lagging. We are taking steps, if you recollect from the main estimates, to put millions of dollars into our information technology systems.

We also recognize the further issues. What do we do with this information? We have to better coordinate medical travel and we have to better coordinate people coming into the system, travelling through the system and leaving the system so that we make it as effective, as efficient and as painless a journey and experience as possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, could the Minister then give us more information about the millions he has allocated to his main budget? How much of that will be on the information system for medical travel? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are going to be considerably upgrading the child welfare information system, our medical data information systems and all the other systems we have within our department. The amount of money is, as my colleague said, in the millions. It is in the main estimates. If I could find it under all my other briefing material on medical travel, I could probably dig it out for the Member, but I will commit to get that figure for her. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like the Minister to know that there is a system in place already in the department, but we need to look at a system that looks specifically, in great detail, why people travel, to where and how. Mr. Speaker, I could tell him that his recent report about medical services admits that they have a lack of information. Could I get the Minister to commit to spending the budget that he has on information systems specifically to medical travel? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is why I made the point in my reply to the Member that very clearly, the department consists of more than Yellowknife. We have a very significant issue to deal with to make sure we tie together all the regions and communities into Yellowknife and the commitment is clear. We have come to this House with a budget that identifies millions of dollars for information technology and we will be spending the money in the area in which we requested it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that answer because it indicates to me that he has completely misunderstood my question. My question was not to do with setting up a huge computer system in Yellowknife. I am talking about information on why people leave communities, such as Aklavik or anywhere, to go where? Where do they go and for what? Whether they go to Edmonton, Yellowknife or Hay River, we do not have a system in place that does the proper follow-up so that we could properly manage the medical travel. Would he acknowledge that he has misunderstood my question and that he will get me the proper answer? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. I am not sure what the question was. You have asked several and you aimed in several directions. I will just ask the Members, for the final supplementary, be a little more specific. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, if you could figure what the question was, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am a reasonable man and I will be glad to meet the Member halfway. Assuming that I misunderstood her question, then I can only assume that she misunderstood my answer.

-- Laughter

I will acknowledge that our systems need improvement and that we have to better track people coming into the system, where they go, how they are travelling and what kind of services they need, to make sure the services they need are there and that when they travel, it is not a traumatic experience. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.